A Fresh Set of Eyes |

By Aaron Brosman
March 8, 2014

I’ve known Nick Hayden since about three days after I started college. I don’t remember exactly how we met. It could have been through Dr. Hensley’s gathering for all the writing majors, or it could have been in one of my classes. What I do remember is that my first year of college Nick Hayden convinced me to come hang out with other writers. Those meetings were some of the most important things that ever happened in my life. We came to call ourselves Derailed Trains of Thought, after the fact that we tended to ramble profusely. More appropriately, I tend to ramble profusely.

That is where I met many of the authors and collaborators for Children of the Wells. Even before The Select’s Bodyguard was published I remember Nick doing what he had done many times before: he asked me to be part of the new story that they were all working on. Sadly, I had to turn him down. My life was too hectic to commit to a story project of this nature.

So, Children of the Wells began, and my life carried on. Daily, I sold board games out of a local store. But while I was working, Nick, Natasha, Nathan, John, Laura, and Tim had started building something special. To borrow a phrase from Tolkien, “Life in the wide world goes on much as it has these past age…” Things continued on for some time.

Then something truly special happened. Nick did not give up on me. Towards the end of last year, he came to me again. He told me there was a spot ready for me if I wanted it. And this time, I agreed. I had just found out I would be getting a new job, one where I would get to make games instead of sell them.

So, I did the next logical thing and decided to read all of the existing novels. Then another truly special thing happened. I read through all of them over two nights. The minute I finished The Select’s Bodyguard I knew this project was special. Immediately, I sent a message to Nick applauding his work. The Fall of the House of Kyzer was finished that evening. I stayed up past three to get through. I could not wait, and the following day I burned through The Doctor’s Assistant, and right into The Rules Change. The next day I came to our monthly meeting excited to speak with the creators of such a special series.

And now I get the joy of being a part of it. In the end, I’m always humbled working with these fantastic people. So what do I bring to the Children of the Wells? A fresh set of eyes. I’m excited to see this story and see just where in this enormous world things go. And if somewhere in there you see that the biggest stories are the ones between two people, then maybe you’ve a fresh set of eyes too.